Accident at Lucknow Metro site, no injuries

Part of an under-construction pillar of the Lucknow Metro collapsed after it was hit by a transport vehicle, officials said on Saturday. There were no casualties.

The pillar was being constructed and the 'shuttering' or placing a temporary wooden structure around it to let the concrete set, was on when the incident took place at Krishnanagar late on Friday night.

Police said a case has been registered against the vehicle driver, adding that no one was injured as it happened very late in the night. The shuttering hung precariously over the sides till Saturday afternoon when construction workers removed it.

Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation's (LMRC) public relations officer Amit Srivastava said that the dumper hit the barricading and brought down the shuttering. The damaged shuttering has since been "restructured", officials added.

The Lucknow Metro is a pet project of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and the state government has pulled out all stops to ensure that work on the first route is completed by December 2016, a few months before the state goes to the polls.

Ruling Samajwadi Party's chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has asked the state government to ensure that work is completed within 22 months as against 24 months sought by the LMRC.